According to a recent survey of municipal councils, English councils are planning to offload community centers, athletic facilities, and shopping arcades as they rely on a fire sale of properties to stabilize finances.
Increasing Fiscal Challenges Drive Asset Sales
The Key Cities Group representing major urban areas in the UK reported that 60% of councils are planning to dispose of properties to cover the rising costs of adult and children’s social care.
Councils have previously faced criticism for selling public land and land to support their budgets, but they argue they must continue to raise vital cash from asset sales or declare themselves bankrupt.
The group said that a significant number of authorities attempting to raise money from a quick sale of holdings represented “a clear change from 2024, when the majority (six in ten) of local leaders stated they would prioritise service redesigns and using savings to manage growing fiscal pressures.”
Specific Cases of Planned Sales
One local authority in Kent announced its property management strategy included the disposal of a retail complex in a local town and a community venue in another town to raise £20m over the next half-decade.
- Gillingham golf club and business parks held in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all provide rental income for the authority, will additionally be sold under the strategy.
Local Levy Rises and Broader Financial Pressures
This research of local authorities in the coalition, which includes Sunderland, Southampton, Gloucester and Salford, also found that more than 70% of councils will need to raise council taxes next April to cover the growing cost of core provisions, higher levels of housing insecurity, and a longstanding housing shortage.
The authority said it will press ahead with property disposals after sharp increases in the cost of children services, support for vulnerable learners, adult social care, and temporary accommodation.
“We are adopting innovative approaches but certain measures take time to achieve both better provisions and financial savings,” stated Vince Maple.
He added: “There are demographic pressures which will persist to add to the pressures we have. As a local government body, we had a drastic reduction in our revenue support grant from 2010-24, which is extremely difficult.”
Countrywide Patterns and Forecasts
A survey of regional authorities recently further found local finances being stretched by the growing number of young people and older individuals requiring special educational assistance.
The County Councils Network projected that local shortfalls will reach £4.4bn a year by the end of the decade, as they grapple to cope with increased demand.
Ministers have put off scheduled changes to the Send system until the coming year after a policy document outlining those reforms was recently delayed.
Disadvantage and Financial Shortfalls
According to the latest deprivation measures (the Index of Multiple Deprivation) for UK local authorities, many key cities members were included in the most deprived in the country.
- “Member cities like Hull, Bradford, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland and Wolverhampton place in the top 30 across the country under the 2025 IMD measures,” noted the report.
“Although only a single urban area is among the ten most deprived for deprived neighbourhoods nationally, urban areas are far more likely to be in the most deprived fifth of the nation. The figures highlights the extent of difficulties confronting local leaders across key cities in the next twelve months,” the report concluded.
“Local government leaders have been clear about the necessity for a equitable and lasting financial structure that accounts for and addresses the real levels of disadvantage and demand,” said Michael Mordey.
“Lacking this, councils will continue to face difficult decisions around which vital provisions to allocate spend to, and which to reduce, to the disadvantage of their residents.”
A fifth of councils have cut or compromised social care provision in the past 12 months, the study revealed.
